Book Summary | The Power of Business Process Improvements

Book : The Power of Business Process Improvements
Author : Susan Page 

Bill Gates wrote in his book Business @ the Speed of Thought: Succeeding in the Digital Economy that ‘‘A rule of thumb is that a lousy process will consume ten times as many hours as the work itself requires.’’ Improving business processes enables you to stay competitive and to increase your responsiveness to your customers, the productivity of your employees doing the work, and your company’s return on investment.

The objectives of BPI are:

·         Effectiveness: Does the process produce the desired results and meet the customer’s/client’s needs?

·         Efficiency: Does the process minimize the use of resources and eliminate bureaucracy?

·         Adaptability: Is the process flexible in the face of changing needs?

The Ten Simple Steps to Business Process Improvement

Step -1 : Develop the Process Inventory

-       Identify and prioritizing the process inventory

-       The process inventory is a list of the business processes that a department or area owns, and you have to build one if you find that such a list does not exist. You can identify business processes by reviewing the work done by a department, by scanning job descriptions, or by talking to colleagues to identify their roles and responsibilities

The following four general categories help you determine the relative importance of one business process over another

1. Impact: How much does the business process affect the business? | Numbers affected & Client

2. Implementation: How feasible is it to make the change? – Time to Market | Funding | Timing of N

3. Current State: How well is the process working today? – Client Satisfaction | Pain Level | Process Exists ?

4. Value: What is the benefit, or return, of improving the process? – Benefit score Total Score

Step – 2: Establish the Foundation

The scope definition document guides you through the exercise of establishing the foundation for a business process. It becomes your blueprint. Scope creep is the veering away from the original purpose of the work without an increase in time, resources, or money.

The Eight Sections of the Scope Definition Document – Process Name | Process Owner | Description or Purpose of the Process | Scope is the breadth or area covered by a process. | Process Responsibilities | Client and Client Needs | Key Stakeholders and Interests | Measurements of Success

Step – 3 : Draw the Process Map

A process map is a visual representation of a series of connected activities that, when strung together, deliver a meaningful outcome to the client/customer.

Process Maps – High Level and Detailed and either the standard or cross-functional process map. Creating the process map and detail document provides the business with a tool that can be used as a standard operating procedure to train new employees

Step – 4: Estimate Time and Cost

Process time is the time required to complete a single activity in a process.

Cycle time is the time required to complete an entire process, from its first to its last step.

Process Cost includes;

1. The cost of the people who do the work

2. The cost of technology tools used in the process

3. The cost of overhead such as space, air conditioning, and the like

4. Determine the FTE (full-time equivalent) number to use.

5. Determine the salary and employee benefit rate to use for the employees or process workers.

validate the accuracy of the process map with three groups of employees: - Process Owners | Stakeholders | Sponsor. The validation should focus on :  Accuracy of the process map | Points requiring clarification | Accuracy of the time estimates

Step – 5 : Verify the Process Map

Step – 6: Apply Improvement Techniques

Bill Gates is credited with saying, ‘‘The first principle for any technology you contemplate introducing into a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will just entrench the inefficiency.

The improvement technique wheel guides you through eliminating bureaucracy, evaluating value added activities, eliminating duplication and redundancy, simplifying the  process/reports/forms, reducing cycle time, and applying automation tools.

Bureaucracy is ‘‘productivity’s enemy.’’ Use SALT as a filter to eliminate bureaucracy (Statutory, Audit, Legal, Tax)

Keep it simple, silly.

Step – 7: Create Internal Controls, Tools, and Metrics

Identifying points in the business process where a mistake can occur provides the opportunity to introduce internal controls. Developing an internal control document, which contains the details about how to avoid common errors, provides an effective training tool for new employees. Creating metrics to support the measurements of success defined in the scope definition document allows you to evaluate whether the process works as planned.

Step – 8: Test and Rework

1. Create the test plan.

2. Develop the scenarios (or testing sheets).

3. Implement the test plan.

4. Summarize the feedback received and the challenges encountered,

then rework the process and tools.

5. Retest (if appropriate).

Step – 9: Implement the change

1. Change management: Impact analysis

2. Testing: Testing plan

3. Communication: Communication plan

4. Training: Training plan

5. Gain Sponsor Buy-in

Step – 10: Drive continuous improvement

The continuous improvement cycle confirms that the business process continually delivers effectiveness, efficiency, and flexibility to the organization.

The four phases - evaluate, test, assess, and execute (PDCA) provide the necessary structure.

The Six Sections of the Executive Summary

Executive summary with an intriguing or compelling statement that grabs the reader’s attention, and shall have the following sections:

-       Project focus | Goals | Summary | Key findings | Deliverables | Appendix (if applicable)

Recommendation :

It is an good book to understand the process and process documentation for beginners.